Gabriel Brzęk Włodzimierz Dzieduszycki. Życie i

Gabriel Brzęk
Włodzimierz Dzieduszycki. Życie i działalność
Włodzimierz Dzieduszycki. Life and work
SUMMARY
Count Włodzimierz Dzieduszycki (1825-1899) was not only one of the wealthiest landowners of Galicia, the Austrian-held part of Poland, in the 19th century, but also the most
generous as far as patronage of Polish culture and learning were concerned. He derived from
an old boyar family, known already in the 15th century, and one that had produced many
intellectuals. The father of Włodzimierz, Józef Kalasanty Dzieduszycki, who was a soldier in
the Kościuszko Insurrection of 1794, and later a captain in Napoleon’s army, established
a library rich in old manuscripts and parchments, while at the same time being a model,
progressive landholder.
Włodzimierz, born on June 22, 1825, at Jaryszow, in Russian-held Podolia, was his only
son. The boy was shy and prone to disease, so he was tutored at home by outstanding teachers. From early childhood he showed a great interest in nature, especially in birds.
In his youth he made numerous trips to foreign museums in order to satisfy his ornithological interests. From exhibits that he gathered himself, as well as those that he received from
friends, bought or obtained by exchange from other museums, he began to organize a natural
history museum of Polish lands. He received support in his task from the well-known preparator and ornithologist Ernest Schauer, as well as from his loyal administrative co-worker,
Władysław Zontak; in 1860 he was joined in his undertaking by the eminent faunist and
secondary school teacher from Lwów (Lemberg/Lviv), and later professor of Zoology at the
Jagiellonian University in Cracow, Dr. Maksymilian Siła Nowicki, who drew up the scientific
plan of the future museum.
As time went by, Dzieduszycki’s collections were expanded beyond exhibits of fauna and
flora, to include such fields as palaeontology, geology, archaeology and ethnography, from
the whole area of former Poland, without regard to the partitions of the country. In 1868,
Dzieduszycki bought a large three-storey house in Teatralna Street, in Lwów, which was
reconstructed and adapted for the purposes of his museum. Out of the seven departments of
the Dzieduszycki Museum, the richest collection was that of the vertebrates, and especially
the birds, of Poland. The development of the museum reached its climax at the end of Dzieduszycki’s life. Dzieduszycki financed the publication of about twenty scholarly books, including books on the collections of the Museum and textbooks. In the years 1914-1922, the
Museum published its own bulletin entitled “Rozprawy i Wiadomości z Muzeum im. Dzieduszyckich” (six volumes of the bulletin were published). Dzieduszycki himself published
a number of works on ornithology, as well as guides to the Museum.
In 1880 Dzieduszycki donated his Museum to the Polish Nation, and in order to safeguard
the development of the Museum, he created out of his holdings the Poturzyce-Zarzecze estate,
whose duty it was to provide funds for the maintenance and financing of the Museum. After
his death, the estate was managed by his son-in-law, Dr. Tadeusz Dzieduszycki (1899-1918),
and later by Dr. Paweł Dzieduszycki (both of them jurists), and then, by Włodzimierz
Dzieduszycki junior (1918-1939). The Museum collections had as their curators eminent zoologists: Marian Łomnicki (1905-1915), Jarosław Łomnicki (1915-1931) and Jan Kinel
(1931-1939). The list of the Museum’s administrators includes Józef Dziędzielewicz, Paweł
Mazurek, Jan Grochmalicki (who made the greatest contribution to the Museum as administrator), Benedykt Fuliński, and Jan Kinel, while the post of librarian was held since 1915
consecutively by Adam Krasucki and Jan Noskiewicz. The preparators of the Museum were
Ernest Schauer, Edmund Härtel, Roman Härtel and Franciszek Kalkus.
Analecta – Studia i Materiały z Dziejów Nauki
[Analecta – Studies and Materials on the History of Science]
VII, 1998, 2, 189-223